About: cris matsunaga

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What does cognitive behavioural therapy involve?
Cognitive behavoural therapy posits that how you think affects how you feel, and that your emotions influence your behaviour. Therefore if you think realistic, helpful thoughts you will feel and function better.
The example below — for someone who fears having a panic attack on a train — highlights the interaction between thoughts, physical symptoms and behaviour.

UNHELPFUL THOUGHT

“Im going to have a panic attack”. I always panic on trains”.
“I’ll sweat and shake, everyone will see I’m anxious and think I’m weird”

Exposure therapy is often essential if you are to overcome your anxiety disorder.The cognitive behavioural treatment of conditions such as: panic with agoraphobia, simple phobias, social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress usually entails an exposure component. That is, you must subject yourself in the situations you are worried about. Although this sounds frightening, your therapist will give you the tools to cope with confronting your fears (e.g. rational thinking, slow breathing and isometric relaxation).
The guidelines for exposure are that the sessions must be

graded

repeated and regular

prolonged

Graded:
Your therapist will work with you to determine what would be an appropriate first step; it should be difficult enough to provoke some anxiety but easy enough for...

Many anxiety sufferers breathe too fast and shallow. When confronted with a feared scenario they breathe rapidly which leads to increased shortness of breath and further hyperventilation.

Some Symptoms of Hyperventilation

dizziness

lightheadedness

lump in the throat

fatigue

poor concentration

choking sensation

difficulty swallowing

racng heart

shaking

blurred vision

shortness of breath

chest pain

disorientation

tingly sensations or numbness in the hands, feet and mouth

People who chronically breathe too fast tend to: sigh often, take deep breaths and feel short of breath.

Slow breathing can relieve anxiety and prevent you from having a panic attack, if you do it as soon as you notice yourself overbreathing or becoming anxious. Socially phobic and panicky people are advised...

Our bodies respond to anxiety provoking thoughts and feared situations with muscle tension. When an anxious person interprets a situation as threatening the fight or flight response is triggered , hormones are released and the involuntary nervous system gets the muscles tense ready to help the individual to respond to danger (Andrews, Crino, Hunt, Lampe & Page,1994).

Constant muscle tension can make people feel cranky, fatigued & apprehensive and develop muscle pain and soreness as well as headaches (Andrews et al, 1994)
People are more likely to have panic attacks when they are in a constant state of tension as they are already highly stressed so a minor event could cause further...